Even now some religious groups to assume Ancient Shinto visit different parts or isolated islands of Japan to perform Shingyou（神業）, an act or ritual devoted to gods, and argue that they have made a hidden god appear or that they have opened up an spiritual path. At a famous spiritual spot, some groups insist they are the first to have opened up the path. I wonder how lame the god is.

religious group 宗教団体

assume ふりをする

Ancient Shinto 古神道

island 島

act 行為

ritual 儀式

devote 捧げる

argue 主張する

hidden 隠れた

appear 現れる

path 道

famous 有名な

insist 言い張る

wonder かなと思う

lame 不自由な

The time is past when we turn our interest to such a “god” as needs help of humans. Once religious organizations are founded and have many believers, they need to hold an event regularly in order to raise money. It is nothing more than a performance for money held by its guru.

be past 過ぎている

turn A Aを向ける

interest 関心

humans 人間

once S+V いったんSがVしたら

organization 組織

found 設立する

relularly 定期的に

in order to~ 〜するために

raise money お金を集める

nothing more than A Aに過ぎない

guru 教組

A true Shingyo must be done by a person alone who has received a sign from God.No believers are needed who watch the Shingyo. A Shingyo doesn’t work out when seen by others because the energy from others interferes with it.

receive 受け取る

sign 啓示

work out うまくいく

others 他人

interfere with A Aを妨害する

I used to regularly visit Izumo-Daijingu（出雲大神宮）in Kameoka（亀岡）, Kyoto（京都）, where I got acquaitend with an elderly man. Because we had met each other several times there before, he came over and spoke to me. I was young at that time so I may have been an unusual visitor.

used to~ 〜したものだった

, where S+V そしてそこでSはVする

get acquainted with A Aと知り合いになる

elderly 初老の

each other お互い

several times 何回か

speak to A Aに話しかける

unusual 珍しい

When we were talking about shrines, he told me that he belonged to a certain religious group and that he was performing a secret Shingyo. My familiarity with Shinto rituals seemed to have made him talk about it.

shrine 神社

belong to A Aに属している

a certain ある

secret 秘密の

familiarity 精通していること

seem to have pp 〜したように思われる

A month later, we met each other again. He was waiting for me, not by chance. Then, he took a round stone out of a gorgeous bag and showed it to me. He explained that the stone, which he called “a soul stone of sacred gems”, was found by his guru at a rocky area of a seashore and the guru gave it to him secretly.

month 月

wait 待つ

by chance 偶然に

take A out of B AをBから取り出す

round 丸い

stone 石

explain 説明する

sacred gem 宝珠

rocky 岩の多い

seashore 海辺

It was an artificially-shaped round, red stone as large as a golf ball. He put it on my palm, when a vision came to my mind. I saw in the vision that a man like the guru was walking around a rocky area of a seashore by himself and then hid a round stone under a big rock and the next morning he took about 15 believers to the place and performed a Shingyo and after that he ordered them to search for a stone around the place but they couldn’t make it and the guru himself forgot the place he hid the stone at. I was able to see the ludicrous scene like this.

artificially 人工的に

shaped 形作られた

palm 手のひら

vision 光景

come to one’s mind 心に思い浮かぶ

alone 一人で

hide 隠す

take A to B AをBに連れて行く

order A to~ Aに〜するよう命じる

make it うまくいく

ludicrous 滑稽な

Then I saw that the guru did the same thing again in a different season and this time he was able to take out a round stone from under a large conspicuous rock and the people present exalted.

season 季節

this time 今度は

take out A Aを取り出す

conspicuous 目立つ

exalt 歓喜する

When I, without telling the whole story I saw in my vision, said to the man “This stone is the one found for the second time, right?”, he was very surprised. He told me that he had owned his small company and had contributed most of the travel cost for Shingyo to the guru. I wished secretly that he could leave the guru, who was obsessed by a ghost of a dead ascetic.